Otto William Hess

Otto W. Hess was a bricklayer, lawyer, farmer, horseman, and a legend in his own time. He was born on October 22, 1892, to William and Sophia (Bockelman) Hess. He was one of eight children. There were two brothers, Carl and Ernest, and three sisters, Della, Anna, and Edna. Two children died in infancy.

Otto Hess spent seventy-nine years creating one of the most interesting legacies in Henry County which in turn had considerable influence on many lives and on the land itself.

He attended Napoleon Schools and was confirmed in St. Paul Lutheran Church. His nickname as a youngster was "Fuzzy" and there were few that could keep up with him in a footrace. He was an outstanding all around athlete when a schoolboy.

His first vocation was brick laying and along with his father and brothers they constructed many homes, business buildings, and shelter houses in the area. Since his father was a bricklayer, Fuzzy was pressed into service and learned the trade under his dad who built many fine buildings in this community. In those days bricklayers worked ten hours per day; they laid from 1,000 to 1,500 bricks per day and received $3.50 per day for their work which was considered a big wage back in the old days when living was cheap and people could save a little money. Fuzzy started out in the bricklaying game at the age of thirteen. His first job was on the Catholic Church in Archbold of which L. S. McComb was the contractor. His last job was laying the cornerstone of Emanuel Lutheran Church in Napoleon in 1917.

[Photo, p. 247c] Otto Hess as a young man

Public speaking always fascinated him and he had acting parts in several plays. It was this experience that spurred him on to a desire for public speaking. He attended Byron Kings Oratory School in Pittsburg as a part of his formal education. He went to Ohio State University and Cincinnati University where he was a member of the Delta Theta Phi fraternity.

After graduating he courted Frances Estella Blank, daughter of William Palmer Blank and Nettie (Long) Blank. Otto and Frances married and were the parents of three children: a son, William, and daughters, Marolynn and Rio Rita.

[Photo, p. 247d] Attorney Otto Hess plying the trowel. His grandson, Tom Moore is the hod-carrier.

In the early years of their marriage, they lived in Delta on a fruit farm and took fruit to markets in Toledo. They soon moved to Napoleon where Otto opened his law office on North Perry Street. In those days he had curly hair, a round face and up-to-the-minute clothes. He started like most young lawyers with small cases, but was soon legal council on some of the area's most important and complicated cases.

Otto had the urge to move into the country and have his office in his home. At this time he developed a serious throat illness nearly losing his voice and his life. Later, however, his voice became one of the leading oratorical voices heard in courtrooms across the country.

Besides his multi-fold business life which spanned farming, masonary, law, and operating a hardware store (Pal-Mar-1W, Otto's interests and hobbies were just as varied. He became keenly interested in horse racing and raced often at the Henry County Fair and in other counties.

This interest in harness racing was passed on to his grandson Tom Moore, who has made his life work the raising and racing of harness horses.

This is what some noted people have said about Otto Hess:

DAN McCULLOUGH: a Toledo Attorney:

"My old friend and adversary Otto Hess is dead. I had a hundred bouts with him and I could write a book about old Otto. Go into any one of Ohio's 88 counties and bring up the subject of law. The odds are two to one that Otto Hess had been there and explained it to the jury."

DON WOLFE: Toledo Blade:

"Judges and lawyers who saw him perform in the courtroom, describe him as a perfect mixture of actor, lawyer, capable of winning a Hollywood Oscar for his histrionics."

A nurse in a Columbus hospital: "When you were born, Mr. Hess, God must have thrown away your pattern; there could never be another person like you."

NAT BELKNAP: Northwest Signal: "Met my old friend, Otto Hess, the other day. He was treading the downtown streets low-speed which isn't what you might expect from Napoleon's militant lawyer of many years past. But many years is what's ailing the old battler. He's battling Father Time to the finish."

[Photo, p. 248b] Otto Hess with one of his horses.

My father left this world with a long year of struggling with a serious illness. To the end he was still in great demand as a lawyer to his clients and his family.
Submitted by Marolynn Moore